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Stray Kids even more good looking and charming up close and personal
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Stray Kids even more good looking and charming up close and personal


When I sent a video of Korean boy group Stray Kids to my friend after the press conference for the Stay With Bench Stray Kids Fan Meet, she said, “The photo cards are alive!”

For the information of those not into K-pop, photo cards are usually 55cm x 85cm images of K-pop idols that you find in their albums. Aside from the music, photo cards are the reason fans buy albums. These photo cards are collectibles and are treated like the expensive goods that they are. In Twitter BNS (buy and sell), these photo cards are resold for anywhere from Php80 to Php500,000. But this is a story for another time.

Back to Stray Kids and Stay with Bench.

My friend is a Lee Know-biased Stray Kids fan who is an avid photo card collector. My daughter is Changbin-biased. Both are pandemic Stays, having discovered the JYP Entertainment Group during lockdown.

I, on the other hand, discovered Stray Kids in 2018 and I was lucky enough that Stray Kids UNVEIL TOUR “I am…” made a Manila stop, and I got to watch them at Smart Araneta Coliseum. The group had just debuted a few months back and they were the first fourth-generation K-pop group that I’d watched perform live.

Stray Kids Fan Meet

BENCH’s Ben Chan with Stray Kids (IG@bcbench)

Stray Kids will have a concert at SM Mall of Asia Arena in March, but the Bench fan meet, in the same venue, was a big thing for Stays in the Philippines. For many Philippine Stays, Stay With Bench was their first time to see Stray Kids.

In April 2020, Stray Kids would have staged their second concert, Stray Kids World Tour “DISTRICT 9: UNLOCK,” in the Philippines but we all know what happened that year.

So while the world was on lockdown, Stray Kids released quite a number of albums, joined a survival show, and gained more fans, including my daughter and my friend.

The group became bigger during the pandemic and there was nothing more that Philippine Stays wanted than to meet them in person.

Stray Kids Fan Meet Stray Kids Fan Meet Stray Kids Fan Meet Stray Kids Fan Meet

Up close and personal during the Bench press conference, Stray Kids—composed of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N.— are even more good looking and charming. They arrived in Manila on the same day as the press conference and the fan meet, but they remained in high spirits and were so excited to meet their fans.

Here are excerpts from the press conference where they answered questions we have always wanted to ask:

This is not your first time in the Philippines. Can you share some of your memorable experiences here the first time?

Bang Chan: It definitely wasn’t the first. The first time we came was for the Unveil Tour and I remember most distinctively Stay’s screams piercing through the inner ears. The energy was crazy.

It’s the kind of energy you feel in your body.

Bang Chan: Yeah

Ever since Bench announced that you were having a fan meet here,  your fans have been so excited. How does it feel to be back?

Felix: The last time time we came here was in Unveil Tour and I feel that was an unforgettable moment. I do feel now that we came back, everyone treats us with respect. They welcomed us with so much warmth. This country is so very beautiful.

Congratulations for being a member of the Bench family. Can you share how it feels to be a Global Benchsetter?

Bang Chan: It’s a really great honor. I feel that it’s really really nice to reach out to Stays in the Philippines. This was a very good opportunity.

How was it working for the Bench team?

Changbin (translated from Korean): First of all, I noticed that Bench clothing is very beautiful and I can wear them as part of my daily outfits. Being a model for Bench is a very big honor for us.

You all look like you’re fashion but is anyone of you really into fashion, really enjoys putting outfits together?

I.N. (translated from Korean): Each and every member has his distinct style, their distinct taste when it comes to fashion so I think everyone is very interested in fashion but to be honest, of all the members, I would have the most pieces in my closet.

Was there a particular fit or look that you enjoyed while you were doing your shoot with Bench?

Hyunjin (translated from Korean): All the clothes we wore for Bench were beautiful but personally, I enjoyed the fit of a red T-shirt that I wore.

How does it feel to have solid fanbases in Korea and overseas?

Changbin: Being able to receive love from all our fans allows us to live our everyday lives very happily and it makes us realize our responsibility as artists where we have to reach the expectations of our fans as well.

Is there anything you’d like to try or like to do here in the Philippines? Are there places you’d like to visit?

Felix: I have Filipino friends back in Australia and they suggest that I should try a dish called adobo so I think if there’s a chance, I’d like to try that one day.

Have you tried any Filipino food. If yes, what is your favorite so far?

Seungmin (translated from Korean): Actually, we’ve already had a lot of opportunity to eat a lot of Filipino food but we really enjoy eating meat and we heard about the pork dish called adobo.

Where did the term Stay come from?

Bang Chan: If you take out the r from Stray Kids, it spells Stay. R stands for “reason.” Stays are the reason the Stray Kids are existing so that’s what we went for.

Felix: That’s such a good explanation.

What sets Stray Kids apart from the other boy groups of this generation? Is there anything unique about how you take on your songs and the choreography?

Han (translated from Korean): One of the biggest differences we have from other boy groups is that we produce our own songs ourselves. Whenever we would perform, we have that distinct and irreplaceable color that we hold on and that is why we are different from other boy groups.

How do you spend your free time?

Lee Know (translated from Korean): Whenever I have some free time, I always challenge myself to try new things.

Felix: I spend my free time on my computer or I would fix my cables.

Can you share your favorite Stray Kids song with us?

Seungmin (translated from Korean): Everyday, our favorite song changes and today it is “TMP.”

Last October, your recently released album Maxident debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, making them the only artist to top the chart with two different albums in 2022. How does it feel to be recognized along with the world’s best artists?

Changbin (translated from Korean): Up to this day, it’s really unbelievable that we have reached such an accomplishment. This is a very big present that the Stays have given to us. In truth, our eagerness and our truth that we have poured inside the album reached their hearts. We are happy and we will do our best more and more.


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